Iran's supreme leader has called for
unity following protests over the
accidental shooting down of a passenger
plane leading friday prayers in tehran
for the first time in eight years
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei II described the
destruction of the Ukrainian airliner as
tragic and he offered his condolences to
the families of the 176 people who died
[Applause]
well there were anti-american chants in
the crowd the supreme leader defended
the country's armed forces saying the
Revolutionary Guard the elite unit
responsible for the disaster maintained
the security of the country with me is
custo energy from the BBC's Persian
service and Custer interesting there
that the supreme leader is defending the
the military perhaps predictably whilst
expressing sympathy for what's happened
obviously that was his aim today
basically to defend the regime at a time
when he's coming under a lot of pressure
he's ruled the government the
Revolutionary Guards that people are
calling for him to step down on the
streets of Iran they calling
Revolutionary Guards murderers so he was
out there to defend that and and and
unity and push for the same policies
that he's been following he offered
condolences to the families of those
people who died at the plane crash but
no apologies and in spite of the fact
that for the last few days when we knew
that he was coming to deliver the
sermons at the Friday prayers that he
should provide some kind of apology none
of that and he and he struck obviously
very defiant tone an anti-american tone
again as you might expect as you might
expect nothing new there and same thing
with European powers too he attacked
them he criticized them calling them
enemies so many people I talked to
commentators and also the social media
reaction to his speech today it seems to
me that he didn't really offer anything
new
under the mystic front there's just a
quick listen to some of what was said
today you have pasta over the past few
days a great and brave Iranian leader
and an Iraqi fighter known for his
spirit of sacrifice and loyalty were
martyred by American military missiles
and on orders from the terrorists US
president this crime was not committed
during the confrontation battle but took
place in a despicable and cowardly
manner through a missile attack the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards destroyed
the American base and crushed the
arrogance and haughtiness of that unjust
state it should now leave the region as
the ultimate punishment a short a part
of what was said today I mean he has not
spoken in this form for some eight years
how significant is this obviously the
spotlight is on Iran now this was the
bit of his sermon that he delivered in
Arabic eight years ago he did the same
thing he delivered part of his sermon in
Arabic those days it was at the height
of the Arab Spring and he wanted to
project it as an Islamic awakening and
he came off with this Arabic language
sermon today he wanted to project power
in the Arab and Islamic world in Arabic
saying that we did this we attacked the
US bases and his message to the region
these days it seems to be everyone to
try and put all the efforts behind
driving the u.s. out of the region it
seems to be that after the killing of
constant selling money
this is his policy in the region he
wants Iran's allies in Arab world forces
political parties everyone who listens
to Iran to try to drive the u.s. out of
the region and that was the message that
he projected tough words but it does
does it look as though immediate
conflict is is now less likely
it seems that way the temperature has
come down massively with the Americans
and the chances of war but internally I
don't think he has managed to shore up
his shaky government that much
Castro Nagi thank you very much indeed